Natividad "Nattie" C. Natividad

“Nattie” Natividad Ceniceros Natividad was called home to heaven on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 after a short but fierce battle with infections. She was a tiny but fierce warrior and in the end the organs in her body gave out. She fought the good fight. Now she is hearing “well done my good & faithful servant.”

Nattie was 87 years old being born July 18, 1938 in Clint Texas to Antonia and Pablo Ceniceros who were braceros or migrant workers harvesting crops around the Southwestern part of the US. She was named after her grandmother, Natividad. As the oldest child she helped her parents in the fields and when not doing that back breaking work, she helped Antonia around the house and with the rest of the children of which there were seven more. She learned to cook, do laundry, clean, and care for children. Their home base was in the small village of Caseta, Chihuahua Mexico in a tidy, impeccably clean adobe house with dirt floors and no running water. They attended the Baptist church whenever the doors were open and they weren’t harvesting crops. What the family lacked in money they made up for in love and hard work.

Nattie met many people traveling the Southwest and she encountered a young man named Gabriel “Gabe” Natividad who swept her off her feet. They didn’t know each other that long. Nattie didn’t fully realize that Gabriel’s last name, Natividad, was her legal first name. That’s very understandable taking into account that she was so young, only 14 and Gabe was 18. He didn’t actually know her first name was Natividad since he’d only heard people call her Nattie. On signing their marriage certificate on September 7, 1952 they made that discovery. That Nattie’s first name and last name were going to be the same.

Gabe took Nattie away from Caseta and her nomadic life to settle in Midland, Tx. where they lived close to his parents Juan and Dolores “Lola”Natividad. They lived on the corner of the block in two separate houses connected by a large hallway. The grandkids of which there were four loved this because grandma, Lola, was close by with fresh tortillas and beans. Having a built-in babysitter, Nattie was able to work at Sears & Roebuck as a seamstress. She was quite accomplished as she made costumes for the plays at church and matching outfits for the girls, Maggie and Diana, of which they were not appreciative. They were only 10 months apart in age and people mistook them for twins. The boys, Gabriel Jr. and Abel were eleven months apart and were expected to help take care of their younger sisters since they were several years older than the girls. Nattie always said it was like having 2 families, a family of boys and then six years later a family of girls. I venture to say, the girls were easier to raise. While raising these rambunctious children, Nattie & Gabe also hosted Nattie’s sisters who would come and live with them to work or go to school or both. Nattie and Gabe never forgot the Ceniceros side of the family by doing this and by going for extended visits at holidays and summers till eventually all the Ceniceros clan made it to Texas permanently.

Gabe moved the family in January 1970 to Andrews, Tx to take a job as a meat market manager at Piggly Wiggly. It took him a few moves to get there and Nattie stood by his side and supported him with each one. One of the boys, Abel, pleaded to stay in Midland with the grandparents. He was in high school and had a steady girl and he wore the parents down. The rest of the family moved to Andrews where again they were at the Baptist church whenever the doors were open. They would even unlock the doors too, to clean or prepare for services. Nattie loved working the women and children’s ministries at the churches, first in Midland then in Andrews. In the summer she would go on missionary trips to Ojinaga, Mexico to conduct vacation bible school with First Baptist Church and Brother Bob Bremerman and his family as she made Maggie and Diana work too. She also loved her job as a daycare teacher under Barbara Hawthorne at First Baptist Church in Andrews. Yet none of these compared to her love and commitment of taking care of her in-laws, Juan & Lola Natividad who moved to Andrews a few years after Nattie and Gabe did. Nattie never saw them as in-laws, they were a ma(mom) & a pa (dad). Together they built a little house a few yards away from the main house and Nattie made sure all their needs and wants were met at the snap of their fingers sometimes even before as she was always anticipating their needs.

Gabe moved Nattie back to Midland in 2001 because he promised his father that once he retired he would follow. Juan and Lola moved to be closer to their daughter, Flora (Isidro) Chavez and her family. After Gabe said “let’s move”, Nattie packed up and they moved. They attended Second Baptist Church, now known as Hope Community Church, since it was right across the street and Tom Revilla knocked on their door with an invitation. Nattie attended there till she became too fragile to attend by herself after Gabe passed away. The last few years of her life her daughter and husband would take Nattie to church with them at Truelite Christian Fellowship Church where she was welcomed, loved on, & cherished.

Gabe had great foresight and asked Maggie way before it was necessary, that when the time came, would she move to Midland to take care of them. She was single and living and working in Dallas at the time. She agreed but then before Maggie agreed to marry James, he had to agree to this package deal. In 2014 Gabe, Nattie & Sassy, Nattie’s cat, moved in with Maggie and James. They had one side of the house and Maggie and James had the other. Gabe’s Alzheimer’s necessitated a move to assisted living near the end of 2019. Nattie stayed with her children and visited Gabe as often as she could which was still not as often as she wanted. Gabe passed away during Covid in 2020. Nattie’s girls began to see signs of dementia in her around 2024. This past year she began to eat less and have more urinary track infections despite the excellent care she was receiving. She had regular wellness appointments with her primary care physician Dr Chau Le and visits to her endocrinologist. Maggie made many trips to the emergency rooms because Nattie seemed to get sick on the weekends or after hours. It seems she was on antibiotics the whole year. She lost strength this last month and could no longer walk and Maggie just knew something was wrong though none of the previous medical personnel ever diagnosed her with anything but UTIs. The last ER visit in Andrews put her in the hospital and they saw a problem with her kidneys. No bigger area hospitals had available beds. San Angelo did, so Maggie & James followed her there. Shannon Medical Center tried very hard to improve and resolve Nattie’s condition but God had other plans. After consulting with Shannon’s medical experts, the daughters made the decision to return Nattie to Andrews under hospice care at the Permian Regional Care Center. Nattie had previously expressed a desire to live there as she had her childhood and church friends Elida Subia and Sandy Hernandez who lived there, but are now deceased. Her daughters, especially Maggie, adored having Nattie under the same roof, living with her and James. They couldn’t bear the thought of Nattie not being catered to 24 hours a day 7 days a week. In the end Nattie got her wish. She arrived at Permian Regional Care Center Wednesday December 10,2025 at 3:43 pm and she was pronounced dead at 5:32 pm surrounded by her girls and their husbands.

Her survivors are two sons: Gabriel Jr & Abel (Ana) of Midland. Two daughters: Maggie Ramirez (James) of Midland & Diana Dale (George) of Andrews, Four sisters: Florence Suarez(Julian) of Little Elm, Tx; Sara Velasquez of Odessa;Corina Rodriguez (Roy) of Odessa & Raquel Shoemaker (Doyle) of Odessa; One brother Raul Ceniceros (Carlota) of Mt. Dora, Fl.

Nattie is preceded in death by her husband, Gabriel Brito Natividad, her parents Pablo & Antonia Ceniceros & five siblings as follows: Noemi Andrade, Juan Ceniceros, Lucy Chavez, Adan Ceniceros, & Eva Peña.

Nattie has ten grandchildren, and seventeen great grandchild and eleven great-great grandchildren not counting twins on the way. Nattie has countless nephews, nieces, and friends. Her smile and genuine kindness attracted everyone.

The details of her services are as follows:

All services will be held at Ellis Resthaven Funeral Home 4616 N Big Spring St Midland Tx. 79705 except for the graveside service.

The viewing is Thursday December 18, 2025 from 11-8 pm

Funeral is Friday December 19 at 11 am & a visitation right before from 8-11

Graveside Service will be at the Ector Co. Cemetery Odessa Tx 300 S Dixie Blvd